Tuesday, December 31, 2013

For the second year running, Bandon's Chapel Steps tops the restaurant charts. This year's post didn't score quite as high as the 2012 review but still, thanks to the many fans of this lovely restaurant, came out ahead. Good performances too from newcomers like Brendan Cashman's Gallo & Galettii in Wilton, Finn's Table in Kinsale, and the Greenroom at Sage in Midleton. Electric is tops in city centre, Cafe Gusto is leading cafe while the Sultan is best ethnic.

Top Drinks Posts
Kinsale's Black Pig Wine Bar is the place to go for a glass of wine (and a meal), the newcomer quickly establishing itself at the head of affairs. This was the Year of the WineGeese and great to see the visit of Cullen Wines to Cafe Paradiso featuring as does the series' opening night at L'Atitude 51. The rise of craft beer is underlined by the popularity of the post on the Cotton Ball, Cork's newest micro-brewery; this post, just up a week or two, is gathering in the hits even as I write.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Called down to Midleton last Tuesday evening to sample the food at
the Greenroom, the new all day late night cafe under the ample wing of the adjacent Sage
Restaurant. Spotted the 12 Mile Tapas board and immediately saw familiar
producers of quality including Woodside Farm, Ardsallagh and Tom Clancy. Five
tapas on the board, so we ordered all five.

Next question was what to drink. Easily answered by looking at the
next board. Lots of local beers here and also Stonewell cider. Could hardly
drink all the beers so settled for the Barefoot Bohemian Pilsner from Eight Degrees and two new Cork beers, both
pale ales, the Mountain Man Green Bullet and the Kinsale Pale Ale, each
dangerously drinkable!

The tapas are top class, all the dishes perfectly executed and, at
seven euro each, very good value. Take the humble Organic courgette and apple
fritters with dehydrated goat yoghurt. Didn’t sound the most promising of the
five but the tangy yoghurt made the fritters sing.

The Organic baby carrot and Ardsallagh goat cheese with organic leaves
and pickled beetroot was another successful combination of taste, colour,
flavour and texture. While the cooking here is creative, the food is allowed to
speak for itself and this was perhaps best illustrated by the Woodside mini
Pork Pie with peas and gravy. The pork flavour and texture were incredible.

The monkfish, coated in the most delicate batter and served with
crispy bacon and organic roast garlic aioli, was lyrically light, crunchy and gorgeous
and probably CL’s favourite.

For me, the outstanding bite was the first one into those Thomas
Clancy free range chicken livers with sourdough and salsa. Honest food
so well handled all the way to the table.

The dessert, Red Velvet Cappuccino cake with Bailey’s Ice Cream, was
so smooth and seemed designed to put us into a good mood. But, after those
brilliant tapas, we were happily already in that zone!

All in all then, honest food, flawlessly cooked, just perfect. And obviously
widely appreciated as the Greenroom was more or less full.

Sage itself was also full. It has gained some
extra seating and a different entrance (via the courtyard) after the recent building
works that gave us the Greenroom. And the local producers are lauded here in
Sage and not just on the tables. On one of the walls there is an excellent
photo display of the producers going about their daily work. Well done to Kevin and
Réidín for their dedication to their local suppliers!

While it is full steam ahead for Sage, the recently opened
Greenroom too has been finding itself quite busy in these early days. It opens
at nine and, during the morning, you can pop in for a freshly ground coffee and
a freshly baked treat. At lunch time, you’ll have great choices of Salads and
Sandwiches and, in the evening, the tapas come into their own.

The new Greenroom, they call it Sage’s little sister, is also
proving useful for a pre-meal drink for those booked into Sage or maybe waiting
for a table. And, when the sun shines, the courtyard outside is abuzz.